1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for mixing liquid solutions and methods for manufacturing such systems.
2. The Relevant Technology
Culture media, buffers, reagents and other biological materials (hereinafter “base materials”) are used extensively by biotech companies in research and development, creating vaccines, producing and purifying proteins, and developing other biologicals. To be safe and effective for their intended use, these base materials must be pure and sterile. As such, base materials are typically made by specialized manufacturers or end-users that have made large investments in sophisticated equipment and facilities. Such equipment and facilities are operated under highly controlled procedures that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other related agencies.
For example, most of the base materials are hydrated in large stainless steel tanks where purified water is combined with a precise amount of a desired base material in its powdered form. Some supplements may be added in liquid form as well. A special mixer is then used to mix the components into the desired end solution. Once the solution is prepared, the solution is filtered and may be directly used or dispensed and sealed into sterile containers for shipment or storage. The entire system is typically operated in some form of clean room.
Between the production of different batches of materials, the mixing tanks, mixers, and all other reusable components that contact the solution must be carefully cleaned to avoid any cross contamination. The cleaning of the structural components is labor intensive, time consuming, and costly. For example, depending on the structural component and the material being produced, cleaning can require the use of chemical cleaners such as sodium hydroxide and may require steam sterilization as well. The use of chemical cleaners has the additional challenge of being relatively dangerous to use and cleaning agents can be difficult and/or expensive to dispose of once used.
Due to the huge expense in creating, operating, and maintaining the elaborate systems used in the manufacture of base materials, biotech companies frequently purchase the base materials in their final solution form. There are, however, certain drawbacks to this strategy. For example, the base materials in the solution form are primarily water. As such, these materials can be difficult and expensive to transport.
Furthermore, although the powdered base materials can be stored for an extended period of time under relatively ambient conditions, the final liquid solutions must typically be stored under refrigerated conditions and have a significantly shorter shelf life. Due to the required refrigeration, storage of significant amounts of the base materials in their solution form can be expensive.
Accordingly, what is needed are systems and components of such systems that enable an end user to hydrate its own base materials into solution form based on its immediate needs but which do not require the highly regulated and labor intensive cleaning and sterilization processes used by typical manufactures. Such systems would enable the end user to minimize the storage of large amounts of base material in solution form while enabling it to maximize the use of powdered base materials which are more efficient to transport and store. Manufacturers could also use such systems to simplify their manufacturing processes.